


ashes, ashes

by Nixariel



Series: certain dark things [1]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, IT BEGINS, character name spoiler avoidance, tw: passive suicidal ideation, tw: vague reference to gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-21 02:49:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9528578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nixariel/pseuds/Nixariel
Summary: I think I know enough of hate; I hold with those who favour fire.At the edge of everything, anything is possible. Even to rise again.





	

**Author's Note:**

> With apologies to [peroxidepest17](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/31057/peroxidepest17), whose fic [Into a Realm of Endless Possibility](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4879425/1/Into-a-Realm-of-Endless-Possibility) inspired a significant portion of this.
> 
> Takes place during S05E09 New World Order pt. II.  
> Prelude to _can't take the sky from me_ (forthcoming).

" **How _disappointing_.** "

Karai cracked open one bleary eye. Something red and black and possibly human-shaped was standing over her. 

…Oh, _hells_. Could she not even die in peace?

"Go. Away," ordered the _kunoichi_ , too exhausted by even that small effort to add any pointed suggestions about where the blurry figure could go and what it could do while it was there.

" **I expected more from you, Shredder’s daughter.** "

 _And I_ , Karai thought, _do not care_. She owed nothing to anyone now.

Death paid all debts.

Yet something about that voice was hard to ignore. Grudgingly curious, Karai blinked her vision clear—and the blur resolved into a woman whose long dark hair hung straight and loose to disappear somewhere past her shoulders.

And she was dressed in **_red_**.

Layer upon layer of silk robes she wore—fifteen? twelve? five? impossible to tell—sharp as a blow against the dull grey sky. Innermost was the eye-smarting scarlet of maple leaves; the outer was a robe of deepest cinnabar, cut shorter than the rest. Between the two were shades that Karai couldn't even name, that seemed to flicker and shift even as she watched.

Then, above it all, that perfect face, high cheekbones and delicately pointed chin—not painted white, as was traditional, but golden with sun—and those _eyes_. Endlessly, eternally black, from edge to edge. Stars might have been born under that ancient gaze; born, and died, and even the light of their passing faded from memory.

No human had eyes like that.  
Nothing mortal could.

 

Karai _refused_ to flinch.

"I fought," as she met those eyes with her own—met and _held_ , measuring each sip of air. "I lost. Is that. Not enough? Have I not. Done _enough_? Just. Leave me alone."

Flawlessly red lips pursed. " **Coward.** "

 _How **dare** — _  
—but she had forgotten _caution_ , and the razor-edged ice that splintered through Karai's belly left no space for fury.

 _Focus_ , she thought, _breathe in._  
A warrior was strong. Strength was of the mind.  
_Breathe out._  
This was only pain. Pain was of the body.

She kept the rise and fall of her chest shallow, kept her muscles relaxed. The sticky dampness spreading through her shirt, pooling—ignored.

_The body obeys the mind._

(a jagged sword, swinging _down—_ )

 _In._  
_She_ was a warrior. _She_ was strong, and not even this would touch her.  
_Out._  
Nothing could touch her.

(don't think about it don't look _don't_ just breathe)

"You are wrong," the _kunoichi_ finally said, discipline fixed once more in place. "I did—all I could. I fought with everything I had. My duty was to die for my master—and _I have done that_."

Karai breathed. Corrected herself, quietly. "Am doing that."

_In. Out._

"There is nothing left for me to give. That is an honourable end for a ninja."

_And a relief._

There was a thoughtful kind of pause from her visitor. " **End? You are only dying, sword-girl. You are not dead yet.** "

"Close enough." Her voice caught on something; pain rolled through her like a wave. Karai clung grimly to her training.

" **Oh, foolish little fledgling,** " the woman in red chided. " **Do you not know?** " She laughed, and something in Karai shied from that beautiful, terrible sound.

And something in her _thrilled_ to it.

" **There are a million miles between dead and dying.** "

-/-

_She drifts._

_Battle noise fills the air. Men cry out, and the ground shakes underneath her like a wounded thing._

_"…took out Karai," someone yells._

_The name tugs at her. It draws her towards it, voices growing clearer as metal clangs on metal, the air thick with the stench of old dry death—_

_But the darkness calls louder._

-/-

Karai opened her eyes, feeling a weight settle back on her chest.  _Between dead and dying…_

She had a duty.

And he had laughed too, the old monster with his magic—at her, at her father.  He'd treated the tower she'd rebuilt to honour Ch'rell like trash.

( _The body obeys the mind._ )

She could have her vengeance yet.

"You want something from me. What?"

Her companion clicked her tongue in remonstrance. " **Mortals. Always so impatient.** "

"I can be patient," Karai answered evenly, "and then you can present your offer to my corpse."

One side of that perfect mouth twitched up. " **Pert, too,** " the woman noted.

"Your point?"

The smile widened. " **Merely an observation.** " A crimson-clad shoulder lifted, shrugged, carelessly dismissive. " **But as you say, time is short,** " the woman continued, " **and you—at a crossroads. So ask not what I want, sword-girl. Ask instead: what is your life _worth_?** "

The sheer power behind those old eyes pinned the  _kunoichi_ in place. Measuring.  _Knowing._

And Karai—  
—flinched.

" **Ah,** " said the woman archly. " **And therein lies the problem, hm?** " She clicked her tongue again. " **Poor little ninja, lost without a hand to wield her. How sad that must be.** "

Stung, the 'poor little ninja' bit back a sharp retort.

"I am mistress of the Foot," she ground out instead. "I am the _Shredder_ —and I will not be mocked."

Lids dipped over darkness, hiding that unsettling gaze. " **And is that who you are, child of the rising sun?** " she murmured. " **Is that all?** "

Karai frowned, confused. _All?_

She wore the armour, the helmet, the claws; cast the fearsome silhouette as familiar to Karai as her swords. She _was_ the Shredder—and in being so, preserved at least something of her father's memory.

It was the part that _mattered_.

…wasn't it?

The woman in red knelt next to her, pulling Karai from her scattered thoughts. " **Now ready yourself,** " she commanded, shaking her arms free from their sleeves. " **This _will_ hurt.** "

Caught by surprise—had she agreed without realizing? what would this bargain cost her?—Karai found herself clutching the edge of one bright sleeve. 

It was warm, and softer than any silk she'd ever felt before. Her companion raised an eyebrow.

But then—why should Karai care? What price, after all, would be too high?

What could she not be expected to sacrifice?

 

"Why?" the _kunoichi_ finally asked, staring at the wrinkle of cloth in her fingers, feeling a flush rise in her cheeks. "Why do this?"

_Why me?_

Unseen, those depthless eyes—flickered. " **I offer a chance. Not explanations.** "

And then— _thrust!breathless!—_ a burning hand pressed hard to her belly _, into_ her belly—

—a sickening sizzle—

— ** _PAIN_** _—_

—racing through her blood like wildfire, eating up her lungs her brain her _heart_ —

Karai _screamed_.

-/-

The girl passed out before the work was finished. She lay there, limp, as the immortal examined her mending with a craftswoman's eye.

There would be a scar.  
There were worse things to carry.

Clawed feet scraped the stony ground behind her. " **You’re interfering,** " came a disapproving voice—one that _rolled_ , deep as earthquakes and avalanches under its old-man's quaver.

" **And you weren’t?** " she retorted, not bothering to turn. She knew her accuser only too well. " **The rat's dreams are hardly subtle.** "

" **And they are nothing _more_ than dreams.** "

" **So will this be, once she wakes.** "

His frown was nearly audible in the silence.

She ignored it.

The demon's other wounds, she decided, the child would have to deal with on her own. No one learned from having someone else solve their problems.

…and yet.  
And yet.

A brush of a hand over short dark hair—a whisper, barely heard—before Karai's form rippled like a mirage and vanished.

The woman stood, delicately shaking invisible dust off her clothes. Her eyes, finally turned on him, were obsidian.

" **Strange,** " she remarked, " **and here I thought you'd be more interested in keeping an eye on your own business.** "

" **I am,** " he allowed. **"But she is part of it.** " _As you well know_ , he didn't say.

He waited under that stare, unyielding, as immovable as a mountain.

Abruptly, the woman shrugged. " **Go,** **then,** " she dismissed. " **See to your grand confrontation.** **I will not stop you.** "

The other sighed—but stumped away, footsteps disappearing into _elsewhere_.

Quietly she added: " **I am playing the long game.** "

-epilogue-

There are _things_ rustling in the darkness that surrounds her, and one of them has stolen her father's face. Her heart beats fast as a bird's and Karai knows they can hear it.

They are hunting for it.

 _"Let's grab Karai and go. It's not too late to save her."_  
She runs.  
_"The Shredder really beat the shell out of Karai. I—I don't know if she'll make it!"_  
She runs.  
_"All we can do is wait—and prepare for the battle to come."_  
She runs.

The forest never ends. And behind her, the sound of hooves is gaining.

-/-

"Father… No! The Shredder is—"

Karai looked around the small room wildly: plain brown walls, well-used furnishings, a red-haired woman at the foot of her bed.

No monsters. No shadows.  
She had been dreaming.

"I… Where am I?"

Her eyes focused on the redhead, narrowed in recognition.

" _You_."

-fin-

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, this is it. I am officially committed to what promises to be a very long series. Ho boy.
> 
> Wish me luck.
> 
> PS: Does anybody think Karai _wasn't_ a bit of a deathseeker in seasons 4 and 5?


End file.
